[Dailydrool] (no subject)

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

Boy, am I glad this month is almost over! It's been a very full four  
weeks what with a head cold-turned sinus infection, major  
housecleaning for a big party for everyone in the church where Ken  
works, and a ten-day trip to San Diego to visit with a favorite aunt  
whose cancer has returned and is heading for her bones.

As luck would have it, the sinus infection and the need to clean the  
house coincided. There are few things less happy than scrubbing eye  
goop and basset body grease off white painted woodwork while feeling  
congested, sleep-deprived (I can't take decongestants), and slow and  
stupid because of all the trapped fluid sloshing around in one's  
head. And that was only the beginning of it. Dog beds and crate  
covers needed washing, floors needed vacuuming and mopping, curtains  
needed washing and ironing, bathrooms needed sanitizing, and the  
whole kitchen needed disinfecting. There's nothing like the fear of  
hypercritical church ladies coming to inspect The Minister's Wife's  
house to make that house look really filthy, even when it isn't.

Part of cleaning the house involved bathing the dogs because many of  
the church members come to our annual open house especially to see  
our Elsinore and young Charlie. I got Ken to be the bad guy this  
time. I was afraid that if I leaned over the dogs in the shower for  
too long my head might explode from all the pressure in it and then  
I'd just have to scrub out the shower stall all over again. It took  
two visits, but my doctor finally gave me antibiotics and they  
finally started to work just a couple of days before the open house.  
Better late than never, I guess. But if she'd only agreed that it was  
a sinus infection the *first* time I went to see her, I could have  
been much further along in feeling better by the time of our party  
and the cleaning would have gone more quickly and easily.

Because this was such a big party, Elsinore and Charlie wore the  
rainbow-colored party collars they got at the BHRA picnic a few years  
ago, and they got their ears cleaned and nails trimmed. They were  
very good about not getting underfoot while I was putting food on the  
table and, even better, they showed no interest at all in the food on  
the table. Elsinore demonstrated her well-honed guard-dog behavior as  
the first guests arrived, and Charlie, ever the follower, happily  
yodeled along with her "I'll eat you up" threats, though I was  
greatly relieved that I didn't have to stop him from jumping on  
anyone. Elsinore and Charlie have helped us host several of these  
parties in the past, so about the time the third group of guests  
arrived, they realized what was going on and left the front door to  
go mingle with their other guests in the rest of the house. Two of  
their guests arrived with dog treats that they could hardly wait to  
give to Elsinore and Charlie, who could hardly wait to relieve their  
guests of their burdens.

Two different people told me at two different times that our dogs  
were "delightful" and "so well behaved," and a week later we got a  
note from someone else who called them "extremely well mannered" and  
commented on their "calm submissive state" (she must have seen them  
at the very end of the party when they were getting tired!). It was  
very gratifying to hear that at least three people find our dogs  
enjoyable to be around. This means that while I was busy with  
refilling iced tea pitchers and vegetable trays, our Elsinore  
probably wasn't using her powerful stare to force people into sharing  
their food with her and young Charlie probably wasn't trying to climb  
onto people's laps uninvited. I guess they really can and do behave  
well when I'm not right there forcing them to do it. Their behavior  
at this party, I've decided, is a ringing endorsement for obedience  
and pet therapy classes--and for practicing inbetween. It also helps  
that young Charlie, though his self-image may be that of a one-year- 
old, really has matured from the eleventh-month-old puppy who came to  
live with us three years ago.

Three days later I left for ten days in San Diego, where I grew up.  
This created a bit of a hardship for everyone I left at home. Because  
I work from home, Elsinore and Charlie don't normally have to spend  
more than four hours at a stretch in their crates. They're not used  
to the kind of quiet home life during the day that so many dogs have.  
Ken had a long meeting the first day I was gone, so he parked them in  
the doggie daycare they love for an overnight, but after that they  
and he were on their own together. Ken said the dogs adjusted very  
quickly and well to spending all day in their crates, and he made  
sure they got walks and extra attention at night to make up for what  
they weren't getting during the day anymore.

When I got home, the dishwasher hadn't been unloaded in ten days, the  
bed hadn't been made, the bathrooms were in their pre-church party  
state, and the rest of the house, well, I won't go on. But the dogs  
were happy, and that's the important thing. Young Charlie in  
particular seems to have been so well cared for that he's actually  
going to need to lose some weight now. He'll get the chance in  
another week when we head to north Georgia for a holiday in the  
mountains with lots of hiking trails. We also plan on going to the  
BHRG Bash in Atlanta during that week. The first time we went to that  
was three months after our Jane Basset died. And now we go with her  
in our hearts and her worthy successor plus one on leashes. I hope  
we'll see some of our Drool friends there. Do look for us--I'm the  
nondescript blonde, Ken's the tall balding guy with the white beard,  
our Elsinore is the white-faced black-and-tan with beautiful and  
intense eyes, and young Charlie's the joyful red-and-white with the  
really wonky front legs and feet.

Elizabeth